Day 14 - Dum Maaro Dum

Dum Maaro Dum (2011) directed by Rohan Sippy

In honor of my one Indian viewer and to continue my international world tour I decided to watch a Bollywood film today playing at my local theater. Having never seen a Bollywood production before (Slumdog Millionaire is actually a British film), I wasn't sure what to expect coming into Dum Maaro Dum. Was this going to be a typical movie or some crazy musical production that Bollywood is famous for? I wasn't even sure if it was in Hindi with subtitles or in English. (Both actually, along with a third option, English with English subtitles.)

Dum Maaro Dum is a crime thriller revolved around trying to bring down a mysterious drug dealer. (Why does it seem that every international release these days has some element of crime or poverty in it? What ever happened to the good old fashioned Somalian romantic comedy?) A young man, Lorry, gets accepted to a college in the US, but cannot afford the $15,000 tuition fee. To pay, he reluctantly helps smuggle drugs for his friend out the country setting into motion the rest of the movie. The story revolves around three narratives giving the viewer different perspectives and background stories of all the players involved. First there is Lorry, the naive kid caught up in a mess way over his head. Then there is Vishnu Kamath, a cop with nothing to lose hellbent on bringing down drugs. And then there is Joki, a musican and older friend of Lorry who is all too familiar with  the trouble Lorry has gotten himself into. Kamath actually turns out to be the main lead as we watch him tough guy his way throughout the movie trying to bring down the mysterious kingpin who seems to be behind all the drugs in Goa.

The intrigue and action of the story is compelling enough if it were not for the sloppy storytelling, making for an enjoyable yet frustrating experience. The director, Rohan Sippy, seems obsessed with flashbacks and recall, often bringing back scenes and dialogue that occurred no more than five minutes before. Please give the viewer some credit for being able to remember something that happened within the same scene! It's a cheap way to emphasize an important point, when Sippy should be confident enough in his own storytelling for us to digest things on our own. There are also a lot of goofy moments, stock characters and pretty absurd and cliche dialogue. One of the stock characters, a cop working under Kamath, even has his own catch phrase, "This is a shit job," that he says no less than four times in the movie.
Another nugget goes something like this (paraphrased):
Kamath having a drink with the bad guy


Bad guy: I'm too powerful. You can't bring me down. I'm going to stay high forever.
Kamath: I'm not going to bring you down. I want you to stay high, with your neck on my noose.

All that being said, the stories are interesting enough to keep us engaged, so long as you can tune out some of the white noise and focus on the fast building action and twists.

Obviously I can't talk about my first Bollywood film and not mention the visual and musical style. The music has a strong influence throughout and I must say I enjoyed the pulsating soundtrack during the action sequences and the dancing/clubbing scenes. I've always enjoyed the funky vibe of Indian music and it always translates well into hip hop. There are also slower tempo tracks for more tender moments sung by Joki, in a not so clever way to implement live singing within the context of the story. I could not help but think of either Nickelback or King of Leon during his numbers, which isn't really a bad thing, just odd.

There were actually only two straight up song and dance numbers. One is during the introduction of Kameth, who does a sort of low budget MTV style rap video, which was actually pretty hilarious. I don't know if that makes me racist or not, but I'm just telling you how it is! The second scene is in the context of the movie which takes place at a rave. (See picture above.) I must say that I loved this sequence as it's well choreographed and it doesn't hurt that the woman, Deepika Padukone, is gorgeous in it. Dum Maaro Dum is definitely musical, but not in the way I expected it to be. I guess I was looking for people to just bust out on the street belly dancing or something mid-scene. (Do these movies actually even exist or is it just the stereotypes I've been told?)

Visually, this movie is a mess, not necessarily in a bad way, but more in a quick editing fast action MTV way. There always seems to be a lot going on screen. I'd guess that the effect will be polarizing for lots of viewers, it'll either be cool and hip or messy and obnoxious, when in actuality it's somewhere in the middle.

Overall, Dum Maaro Dum is a decent first look into a big Bollywood production, with a solid soundtrack and an interesting premise that is unfortunately hampered by somewhat weak directing.

Grade: C+